A tough week, the retirement of a City legend and the end of the road for Ethelred....

Apologies for the lack of blogging and for the general lack of activity from me this week. To say this week has been challenging would be an understatement, which has begun and ended with the likely demise of my Rover 216si, Ethelred the Reddy. After breaking down in central Bristol tonight, the recovery guy checked my engine and said that my head gasket had gone as all of the oil from my engine was in my coolant tank. Apparently this is a known weakness of the Rover K series engines and I am weighing up selling her for parts or getting her repaired depending on the cost. It is a massive disappointment for me and I'm gutted to be truly honest with you. It means that Christmas will be by public transport this year, which is hugely frustrating. I am also facing having to walk halfway to work and then completing the remainder of the journey on the AXA free bus. It will also limit the number of Cardiff City games that I can get to, as well as causing logistical problems for me in getting to church and midweek events.

I must pay tribute to Ricci Scimeca (pictured) of Cardiff City FC who has bravely decided to retire at the mere age of 34 today following a string of injuries. Ricci had only recently played his first two games for over a year against Preston and West Brom, but following the latter game the same injury that had kept him out for the previous 12 months came back. It is likely that he may be joining the coaching staff to help develop our youth academy players, but he will be a significant loss to City's already depleted midfield following the injury to Kelvin Etuhu and the ongoing cancer treatment that Steve McPhail is currently receiving. So thank you for your loyalty and commitment Ricci and good luck for the future!

Car trouble and Morse revisited....

For all the years that I lived near Oxford, I was never particularly interested in the "Inspector Morse" tv series. Over the 12 years that have elapsed since I moved from Oxfordshire, I have however come to appreciate what an excellent series it really was. Today's picture is of the late and much missed John Thaw (Inspector Morse) and his sidekick Kevin Whately (Sergeant Lewis). In tonight's episode Morse has just collapsed in the quad of Christchurch college (my sister's old college incidently) in Oxford. I have also enjoyed watching John Thaw in other shows especially in his role of Regan in the politically incorrect 1970's cop drama "The Sweeney". If you've watched "Ashes to Ashes" or "Life On Mars" then the character Gene Hunt is a very similar to the character of Regan!

I am hoping that my car will work in the morning. As I turned into my road I could hear the sound of bubbling water and once I pulled the car onto the drive I decided to investigate. I had water bubbling out of my coolant header tank, but this stopped once I turned the engine off. I am hoping that the water pump hasn't gone otherwise I am stranded and will have to walk 4 miles into town in order to catch the AXA free bus in the morning!

A great morning at church and another fantastic win for the City!....

With next week's Christmas experience approaching, church was great again today. I really enjoyed playing and then catching up with some of the guys who have just joined our church afterwards. Although I didn't get to speak to all of them, I have been reliably informed by Pastor Lois that one of them is a Cardiff City fan! See, there are two of us in Filton now! I also had a pleasant surprise when the late Mrs FlyingVJenks mum came to visit us at church this morning and I was really pleased to hear how things are getting better for her too.

As another "Brucie Bonus", Cardiff City made it 3 wins out of 3 today by going back to Middlesbrough and coming away with 3 valuable points. This has enabled us to climb to 3rd place and now crucially we are now only two points away from West Bromwich Albion in 2nd place. Chris Burke (pictured) fired the winner and City ground out a fantastic 1-0 win with another sound defensive performance. Leicester City are the visitors to CCS next week with Plymouth Argyle also at CCS on Boxing Day followed by an away trip to Peterborough United on Bank Holiday Monday. If we can rack up another 3 wins then it will set us up very nicely for a genuine promotion push in the new year.

Well done that man!....

In an unusually good day for my other teams, I must pay tribute to a young manager who has worked under extremely difficult conditions and yet continues to achieve great things on next to no budget. His name is Garry Shephard (pictured) and he is the manager of the mighty Martyrs (Merthyr Tydfil FC for those of you non football types who may be reading this). The club itself nearly folded this summer with debts in excess of £300,000 (probably the equivalent of a few week's salary for an overseas Premiership player). Thankfully due to the tireless work of the Merthyr Tydfil FC Supporter's Trust, the club have survived even if they have had to enter administration to secure a future for the club. Any club that enters administration are automatically docked 10 points so Merthyr started the season bottom of the table on -10 points. Today they have climbed out of the relegation zone with a hard earned 1-0 win over Swindon Supermarine at Penydarren Park this afternoon with the goal coming from Garry Shephard himself. They now have 16 points and have completely wiped out the 10 point penalty deduction. Today's result may not be significant in the national media and will not be a back page headline, but I salute the players, management and supporters of this great club who are conclusive proof that if you want something enough then it's well worth fighting for.

Two of my other teams also picked up great results today. Newport County were 3-1 winners at Farnborough Town in the FA Trophy and Witney United hammered Hook Norton 4-0 in front of a packed crowd of....er....78. All the usual supporters were probably going round the new shops in Witney as a matter of duty to their respectives wives! (I joke of course before you start to accuse me of male chauvinism!). Special mention must also go to the rejuvenated Oxford United who also beat Hayes & Yeading United 1-0 this afternoon and to Bristol Rovers who defeated Swindon Town 3-0 at The Memorial Ground this afternoon. At least half of my office will be happy on Monday!

Catch up time.......

I had the pleasure today of a visit from a member of the late Mrs FlyingVJenks' family today. It was really nice to catch up and have a natter over lunch, as I haven't been able to visit them for a while due to the financial constraints associated with my house move. We met up at The Mall (Cribbs Causeway) shopping centre in Bristol and it was the first time that I've been there for a while. It used to be reasonably local to me when I lived in Bradley Stoke and I went there quite a bit when Mrs FlyingVJenks was alive.

It's a football free day today as the City travel to Middlesbrough for tomorrow's game at the Riverside Stadium. The last time City went there they pulled off an FA Cup Quarter Final upset in 2008 when they beat Middlesbrough (then in The Premiership) 2-0 with goals from Peter Whittingham and Roger Johnson. A truly memorable occasion for the City that culminated in getting to the FA Cup Final only to narrowly lose 1-0 to Premiership side, Portsmouth. If City can emulate the achievements of the class of 2008 then that would be a perfect end to a great week for the club both on and off the pitch.

Going solo at work and a major turning point for Cardiff City Football Club.....

It's funny when you hear stories about people's exploits at office parties, but it is also good to not be the subject of those stories in any way. People talk after all and that's how office rumours start! My hearing was still intact after last night's gig and so our department today resembled a ghost town with a number of people either on holiday or using up flex days to recover from the night before. I enjoyed having some friendly banter with some friends who were the worse for wear and I was also the only member of Payments Out present today (hence the going solo remark).

Much to my delight, Cardiff City FC announced today that they had signed an agreement with Langston's Corporation to repay them in full by 2016, which removes the threat of legal action and now paves the way for fresh investment in the club. Our Malaysian investors had stated that their only sticking point was the whole potential legal threat from Langston's. Now that's been resolved it is another step forward in both the recovery and progression of the club. There are also rumours that we are attracting investment interest from America too. It is a far cry from the struggling lower division football club playing at a ramshackle Ninian Park that I fell in love with 23 years ago! If the investment arrives before January then hopefully it will mean City can buy in some new players to help us in our quest for Premiership football next season. C'mon City!

2 decent bands = one great gig!....

Ah, it takes me back. The year was 1989/1990, British rock and metal was thriving in its pre Grunge days and bands such as Thunder, Little Angels, Gun, Jagged Edge and tonight's two bands were leading the way. After a gap of nearly 20 years I witnessed two great bands roll back the years at the 02 Academy in Bristol tonight. Neither band may ever eclipse the achievements of their respective commercial heydays, but they proved that they can still cut it.

First up were midlands metallers Wolfsbane fronted by the excitable and energetic Blaze Bayley (who for rock trivia types had a short spell in Iron Maiden before Bruce Dickinson's return to the band). My inner 14 year old metalhead was soon punching the air to "Tough As Steel", "I Like It Hot", "Kathy Wilson" and "Paint The Town Red". I saw Wolfsbane 20 years ago (which is when their photograph dates from) at the Oxford Apollo supporting Iron Maiden and they were great then and are still great now!

Another highlight was the interval music as "New Orleans" by Gillan, "Roxette" by Dr Feelgood and "Chinatown" by Thin Lizzy were played over the P.A. system. They must've known I was coming!

The Quireboys musically are a complete contrast and specialize in blues based rock very much in the style of the Rolling Stones and The Faces. I wasn't expecting too much from them, but they blew me away. It was great to hear "Long Time Coming", "7 o'clock" and "Hey You" all these years later and as a band they sounded vibrant and fresh. I think people tend to focus too much on commercial success and assume that unless bands sell millions of records they are no good. I pity people who think that way because they are missing out on some great live music created by genuine musicians who can actually play and write their own stuff. I admire both bands for sticking to their own musical paths and most of all for having fun on stage! If I can still be doing what I do now in 20 years time I'll be a happy man.